"I love studying": My thirst for knowledge almost keeps me from sleeping, and once I do fall asleep, it's as if I'm dead—my brain stops thinking. What could be more terrifying than stopping thinking.

""

Ethan Young suddenly felt that opening this game again made him seem like a lunatic.

Their conversation quickly shifted from sleeping to other topics.

"Study study study, that's all there is in my life": Speaking of which, that person at the top of the leaderboard, can anyone finally knock him down? I've been annoyed by him for a long time. How can someone be so shameless?

As soon as this was said, it unexpectedly drew out a lot of lurkers who had been silently grinding questions.

"Top ten in the grade": Shameless 1!

"English class rep": Shameless 2!!

"Dream is to be principal": Shameless 3!!!

The atmosphere was lively, and the crowd's thoughts were more unified than ever.

First place on the leaderboard, shameless?

Ethan Young was unusually a bit curious.

The leaderboard was at the top right of the page. Clicking in, it was a simple ranking list, and at the very top—

"Damn." Ethan Young glanced at the two characters next to the little golden trophy. Other than "damn," he didn't know what else to say for a moment.

First place: Quiz Master.

Personal signature displayed: No need to fight, victory belongs to me.

Just nine short characters, arrogant yet still polite.

In a game called Quiz Masters Clash, naming yourself Quiz Master?

Apparently, too many people had asked the official customer service whether this "Quiz Master" was a player or a bot, so the official specially marked next to the first place: Stop asking, this is a player, this really is a player, if you don't believe it, challenge and see for yourself, one rz.

Maybe it was the frustration of not being able to sleep, or maybe he just wanted to find something to kill time. Of course, deep down, he was a bit annoyed by this Quiz Master.

Ethan Young clicked into the question-grinding mode out of sheer boredom.

He thought, if it's just in this game, and no one knows, it should be fine.

Everyone knew Ethan Young had bad grades.

Not only were his grades bad, he was always fighting, his rebellious phase came on fiercely, and even Grace Miller had already forgotten that three years ago, he wasn't like this at all.

In the first year of middle school, Ethan Young used to bring home trophies all the time.

Grace Miller didn't really know the weight of those trophies, and Ethan Young wasn't the type to brag. Every time, he'd just brush it off: Small competition, not many people participated.

The month before Grace Miller decided to marry Gregory Cooper, she moved out of the basement with Ethan Young. That day, Gregory Cooper called a moving company to help. He was already over forty, exuding a businessman's meticulousness, doing things flawlessly, yet still warm and proper. The man stood in the dark, damp basement, finally pausing in front of a wall. He bent down, and when he smiled, there were obvious crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. He asked, "Xiao Yu, did you win all these awards?"

Who knew that once he started grinding questions, he couldn't stop. The rare spark of competitiveness completely kept Ethan Young from sleeping. He stayed up for several nights grinding questions, barely squeezing into the top three on the leaderboard.

Grace Miller would call him for meals, and every time the response was: Not eating yet, just leave it there.

"What have you been doing locked in your room these past two days?" Grace Miller stood at the door, barely holding back her anger.

Ethan Young was quite honest: "Me? Playing games."

"You really have the nerve to say that. The tutor I hired for you is coming tomorrow. You'd better get yourself together, do you hear me?"

"Didn't hear you."

""

Grace Miller was so angry she was full, went back to the dining room, and Gregory Cooper smiled as he picked up a piece of sashimi for her: "Don't be mad, the kid's still young, it's normal to want to play. Try this, I had it flown in fresh from Hokkaido. Last time at the restaurant, I saw you liked it, so I asked Lao Xu to keep an eye out."

After Gregory Cooper finished, he put down his chopsticks, watched her eat, and reached out to fix her hair: "If you get sick from being angry, I'll be the one who feels bad."

Grace Miller glanced at him with a smile, then sighed: "Let's hope so."

Lately, Ethan Young really wasn't acting normal.

Ray Jones had seen this guy post on his Moments several times in the middle of the night, and the content was always pretty trippy, like he wasn't quite in his right mind.

For example, tonight's post at 4:23 a.m.

xy: Someone come and wake me up [/smile].

Ray Jones happened to be playing a new season in some game and needed to rank up, otherwise he wouldn't be scrolling through Moments at this hour.

The atmosphere in the internet cafe was even livelier than during the day, a few buckets of instant noodles scattered around the keyboard. Ray Jones blew out a smoke ring, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and casually commented: You been drinking?

Ethan Young replied: I don't drink, fake alcohol ruins people.

Ray Jones asked again: Judging by your tone, bro, let me guess, have you fallen into the abyss of love?

Ethan Young replied: Love my ass.

------------

6. Chapter Six

"I love studying": Third place now, this x.

"Study study, that's all there is in my life": About to catch up to second place.

"English class rep": Looks promising, want to bet? I think this x is definitely a rising star, the dark horse of all dark horses, and up to today hasn't said a single word, super aloof, totally seems like someone destined for greatness, not simple at all.

"For a better tomorrow": Bet on what?

"Serve the motherland": I'll bet a privately treasured copy, 1982 junior high "Chinese" textbook, volume five, can't be found anywhere.

"I love studying": He must be someone who puts all his energy into studying. Seeing him so obsessed with studying every day, unfazed by honor or disgrace, not caring about any other entertainment, I feel so ashamed. I actually still have time to chat here.

""

Ethan Young had been grinding questions for several nights. Ever since he shot up the leaderboard, the account jsdhdax had been a hot topic.

For this group of study-loving players, the leaderboard was as important as class rankings—a symbol of honor and a goal to strive for. They looked up to the top students every day, encouraged themselves to follow in their footsteps, read more, memorize more, do more.

Quiz Masters Clash player points were based on the average score across all subjects. Excelling in just one didn't help much, so the ones on the board were all all-rounders, and since the server opened, these names had barely changed.

If a newcomer shot up overnight, fine, but this newcomer with a forgettable name kept changing positions on the leaderboard every day, like climbing stairs, moving up with ease.

"Study study, that's all there is in my life": Being aloof is good, the shadow left by shameless is too deep for me, really. Now every time I see the system broadcast about who PKed who and who lost, I'm always afraid the next second the chat will show the words "one kill".

"English class rep": He got up to fourteen kills in one night, really feels like he joined the wrong game [/tears streaming down face].

"For a better tomorrow": That flashy? Every time he PKs someone, he manually types "one kill, two kills, three kills" in the chat? Is it the shameless I know?

"English class rep": It's him, who else could it be. Honestly, I've always wanted to know why he does that.

"Study study, that's all there is in my life": No idea, how could us mortals understand.

"I love studying": Everything should be about studying, gossiping is meaningless. Let's follow x the top student, come to room 4008, waiting for your challenge.

Although that Quiz Master hasn't really logged in much since conquering the leaderboard, his legend is still passed around in the game.

Ethan Young would occasionally glance at the chat, and every time he did, his impression of shameless refreshed: How much drama does this lunatic have.

He ground questions until after two, played a few PK matches, and after earning enough points, was about to log off and sleep.

He only slept a few hours before being woken up at seven by Grace Miller: "The teacher is coming soon, tidy up, go wash your face and brush your teeth, then come down for breakfast. Hurry up."

The first few sentences sounded normal, but as she saw Ethan Young's uncooperative look, she got angry again: "Did you hear me?"

Ethan Young got a headache from her yelling: "Got it."

Mrs. Grace Miller meant what she said, and really did find a teacher. This person was said to be quite famous in the private tutoring world, had helped many lost kids, and was hyped up as almost magical. Supposedly, there was no student he couldn't teach, he had hands that could turn decay into miracles, turn stone into gold, and discover every child's hidden wisdom.

Ethan Young found it all laughable, and mocked it.